In the 23rd FIDE Invitational (click here for photos and analysis from earlier today) IM Ray Robson won consecutive games in rounds 7 and 8 against two of the top IMs in the country, Sam Shankland and Ben Finegold. Robson now stands as the sole leader with 6.5/8 and (Update, 8/26/09) clinched his second norm with a round to go! He earned his first earlier this month in Norway. Mackenzie Molner also secured an IM norm after eight rounds, and will play Robson on board one. Michael Thaler needs a win over FM Jake Kleiman for his IM norm. Good luck to all our young talents and keep checking CLO for more in-depth analysis of the critical games.

IM Ben Finegold told CLO about his game with Robson: "I was sure I was winning, but, maybe I was ONLY clearly better :) ....When we got down to less than 5 minutes each, I simply made too many errors. It was VERY complicated-- The spectators and other players were enthralled. "

In his game against Shankland, Ray capitalized on a big mistake by Shankland- Inserting 19...Rxd1+ before Bxe4 lost instantly to the undeveloping but totally winning bishop capture.